Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was conducted to find out the effects of hospice care by evaluating the spiritual well-being and quality of life in the hospice and nonhospice patients.
METHOD
The research design was composed of descriptive study. The data were collected using the questionnaire with interview from 30 hospice patients at three hospice institutes and 30 nonhospice patients at two general hospitals. The tools used for this study were 14-item questionnaire regarding general characteristics, a revised Spiritual Well-being Survey(Paloutzion and Ellision, 1982) and 22-item of revised Mcgill Quality of Life questionnaire.
RESULT
The spiritual well-being of the hospice patients was higher than that of nonhospice patients(F=5.52, p=0.023). The global quality of life of the hospice patients was higher than that of nonhospice patients(F=8.84, p=0.004). There was a significant positive correlation between spiritual well-being and quality of life of the hospice patients and non hospice patients.
CONCLUSION
The hospice care effects on spiritual well-being and quality of life of the terminal cancer patients.

• Keywords: Hospice patient; Spiritual Well-being; Quality of Life